David Edelstein, on "Speed Racer":
From the previews it was clear that the people were props in an ecstatically cartoony world with its own laws of time, space, and motion. Instead of actors superimposed over futuristic Deco backdrops, as in the handsome but congealed Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Speed Racer would be organically fake, an unbridled orgy of artifice.I saw this tonight, and my lord it's a disaster, made even worse coming just a week after "Iron Man," an all-time great blockbuster.Orgy, hell: The film is like a nightmare in which you’re trapped in an arcade with screens on all sides and no eyelids. Based on an elemental but happily streamlined Japanese cartoon (an anime precursor), it’s an eyesore, a shambles, with incoherent action and ear-buckling dialogue.
Lots of pretty colors, sure, but just about everything in "Speed Racer" goes wrong, from the impossible-to-follow action sequences to the nonsense plot to one of the most annoying comic-relief duos in history, one of whom is a monkey. The only thing "Speed Racer" has in common with "The Matrix" is an unfortunate weakness for LONG, expository speeches.
Don't see this movie. See "Iron Man" again if you have to.
Posted by Stephen Silver at May 7, 2008 01:14 AMI saw it and thought it was a good kids movie. Lots of color in it, that's for sure. Also Emile Hirsh and Matthew Fox are hot in it.
Posted by: A at May 7, 2008 03:32 PMNot a good kids movie if your kid's an epileptic.
Posted by: Jeremy at May 7, 2008 11:14 PMthat guy liked it. What do you think, Steve?
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa155.html#speedr
Posted by: Jordan at May 8, 2008 02:54 AM